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On the strength of a 6.659-second, 206.83 mph run made on Friday afternoon, Warren Johnson qualified his GM Performance Parts GTO in the fourteenth position for Sunday's final eliminations of the Toyo Tires Nationals in Reading, PA. Although the cooler fall temperatures were ideal for producing horsepower, the cool racetrack and intermittent showers, which eventually curtailed the qualifying procedure to only three attempts, forced drivers to adapt at their best just to qualify. Although still discovering the performance envelope of his still-new car, Johnson was buoyed by his results in qualifying, believing there is tremendous potential in this new chassis.
"We've been trying to find the sweet spot on this GM Performance Parts GTO, and it's getting closer every race. We made some bad decisions a week ago in Dallas that cost us, but overall, it's coming around to where we can now start to work back on the power level, because we're not running the speed we should be. If we get that fixed, we should be in excellent shape.
"For the most part, our runs were pretty good, although after waiting out (son) Kurt's and David Northrop's incidents last night, the track had cooled off to where we simply blew the tires off at the hit, and made an 18-inch run. We came back with a fair run this morning, getting down with a 6.66, which was ninth quickest for the session. We'll just keep working on it, trying to make it better.
'We feel pretty optimistic about tomorrow. We should be able to run with the pack and, with a few favorable breaks, we should be able to do some damage."
WJ Keeps Learning, Starts 14th in Reading
On the strength of a 6.659-second, 206.83 mph run made on Friday afternoon, Warren Johnson qualified his GM Performance Parts GTO in the fourteenth position for Sunday's final eliminations of the Toyo Tires Nationals in Reading, PA. Although the cooler fall temperatures were ideal for producing horsepower, the cool racetrack and intermittent showers, which eventually curtailed the qualifying procedure to only three attempts, forced drivers to adapt at their best just to qualify. Although still discovering the performance envelope of his still-new car, Johnson was buoyed by his results in qualifying, believing there is tremendous potential in this new chassis.
"We've been trying to find the sweet spot on this GM Performance Parts GTO, and it's getting closer every race. We made some bad decisions a week ago in Dallas that cost us, but overall, it's coming around to where we can now start to work back on the power level, because we're not running the speed we should be. If we get that fixed, we should be in excellent shape.
"For the most part, our runs were pretty good, although after waiting out (son) Kurt's and David Northrop's incidents last night, the track had cooled off to where we simply blew the tires off at the hit, and made an 18-inch run. We came back with a fair run this morning, getting down with a 6.66, which was ninth quickest for the session. We'll just keep working on it, trying to make it better.
'We feel pretty optimistic about tomorrow. We should be able to run with the pack and, with a few favorable breaks, we should be able to do some damage."
